Sergei Zubov is somewhere near 10th in All-Star voting for defensemen.

But he's first in the league in scoring among blue-liners.

That seems the perfect dichotomy for one of the league's most underrated players.

Zubov had a goal and three assists Monday, including setting up Brenden Morrow's game-winner in a 5-4 Dallas Stars overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers.

The four-point night tied Zubov's career-best (his sixth four-point effort) and gives him 28 points for the season – two better than Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom.

"He quietly goes about his job, but the guys who get to see it in here understand what he means," Morrow said. "We know how valuable he is."

He's pretty much the Stars' MVP so far this season. Zubov has four goals and 24 assists, and he is a big reason the team's power play ranks among the league's top five. He is one of the key reasons the Stars are 16-11-4 and back in first place in the Pacific Division.

Morrow, who has 16 points with the man advantage this season, said he and Zubov noticed Oilers breakdowns in overtime after Jussi Jokinen drew a slashing penalty to put the Stars on the power play.

"We tried that play about 30 seconds before, and it hit a skate or I flubbed it," Morrow said. "But he always puts it on the tape, and he made a great pass to me for the winner."

Zubov also made a great pass to Jokinen that resulted in a Mike Modano tap-in goal in the first period. He fed defenseman Matt Niskanen for his second goal of the season, and then converted a perfect pass from Antti Miettinen for a goal in the second period.

While Zubov clearly was the show, the Stars also had some great supporting performances. Miettinen contributed two beautiful assists while playing on a line with Morrow and Mike Ribeiro. Niskanen finished with a goal and two assists and was plus-3. Steve Ott pushed the grind line along. Ribeiro had a goal and an assist.

AP

The Dallas Stars' Marty Turco (left) deflects a shot as Edmonton's Marty Reasoner and the Stars' Trevor Daley watch.

"Antti was a good player for us tonight, and hopefully he continues pushing forward," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Otter is playing a strong game for us and isn't a guy who will get a lot of glory."

If that's the case, he can get in line with Zubov. The 37-year-old defenseman battled to recover from sports hernia surgery in the off-season, and he has been near flawless in leading a defense that has been filled with flaws. He entered Monday averaging 25:40 in ice time and logged 27:33 against the Oilers.

You could even toss in the fact that he has played the role of teacher to Niskanen, a 20-year-old rookie. Zubov, however, will hear none of that. He said playing beside Niskanen is one of the reasons he's having a great season.

"Nisky has been great, and I feel reborn playing with him," Zubov said.

And if the Stars can continue to grind out points, they, too, can be reborn this season. Changing general managers preceded a six-game winning streak. But the momentum from that push had worn off recently, and the Stars had lost two straight at home before Monday.

So this game was big in a lot of ways.

"Points are valuable," Tippett said. "And against a young, hungry team makes them even bigger."

The Oilers have been struggling, but they put out a good effort. Zubov was just a little better.

"I don't know if he even sweats, he makes it look so easy," Ribeiro said. "He sees things before they happen. He had an amazing game."

Maybe others will start noticing.